Can we talk about modular synths?

[Muse FTW]

A few quick notes from the new gear that came in:

1. Erica Synths Black Stereo Delay is awesome. Not as much tweakability as the 4ms DLD, but it suits my needs a bit better. I really like the controls and layout.

2. Make Noise Mimeophon is everything I was hoping for. I think it's my favorite eurorack delay that I've owned, and I've owned a bunch (Magneto, DLD, Tapographic, etc.). The repeats have a great color to them. The ZONE knob is probably my favorite because you can instantly throw something backwards in time more significantly than the time knob allows on most delays. The HALO knob does a good job of smearing the delays, too.

Summing up my current setup, it's way too big but is doing everything I'm looking for at the moment. I have all my Make Noise and Mutable modules in a side case and it's working out pretty well. I still have to learn Tides but I'm enjoying the workflow. I still have to learn Assimil8or too. It's very powerful but I feel like I'm getting intimidated by it.

Lastly: I really need a solid analog oscillator. Maybe I'll go for the SSF zero thru but I'm open to suggestions. I kinda want something complex but I'm not opposed to getting 2 basic oscillators and figuring it out from there. Strangely I've found the Atlantis to be really bland all of a sudden, and I'd like to fill it with something less aggressive than the Make Noise offerings I have racked.

[behndy]

Mimmeophoneretical sounds baller in every demo i've heard but.... i just don't click with MN loots. i'm..... i'm SKEERED.

i feel you on wanting MOAR. ALL THE THINGS. but i downsized to 12u, put all my drum synthesis stuff i adore into a 7u and.... i love it. it's ridiculously verbose but more productive because i'm learning less pieces more.

and figuring out what i WANT to love, but don't really. like the Morgasmatron. every tenth time it sounds AMAZING. but the other nine times.... just super frustrating.

have a WMD Aperture coming in, going to pop that and an Overseer in Morgasmy's spot.

[Dark Barn]

Playing the full case game, I have a Mimeophon and Stereo Dipole coming to most likely replace my Magneto and Epoch Twin Peak filter. I love the sound of Magneto but it has many features I don’t use or care about and it’s big. Epoch Twin Peak has been a one trick pony for me, I’m hoping the Stereo Dipole can come close to mimicking that trick (modulating two serial bandpass peaks, the lower one with a slow envelope or v/oct mult and the upper one with stepped random) and also have other uses. I’m sure it won’t sound the same but I find Twin Peak’s woody hollow tone to be too limiting, a real character filter if there ever was one, I’m sure I’ll miss it if I let it go, because when it works in the mix it works super well.

[behndy]

..... Panharmonium ordered. sounds way too amazing. they're BIG, but i would love to have all the Rosso Electro loots.

[yeatsvisitslincoln]

I've been on the fence on the Stereo Dipole. It is a super awesome filter and has some character, but it is also a pain to setup to get specific sounds. I could sit down with it more to familiarize myself with getting closer to specific ideas, but I never find it too rewarding when I'm trying to get to a specific sound rather than exploring. I believe it can almost do anything, but a lot of times it feels big for getting relatively generic filter sounds out of it. Still on the keeping side just because it does end up being pretty useful, but I'm never too excited about it. It is kind of two Apertures in one module, though...

In comparison, I love how the Dual Borg sounds, but use it less because of it's distinct character. But when I want that sound, boom it's there and exciting. And as I was telling Behndy, I think the Synchrodyne + Expand is my favorite thing. It's all exploration and finding these crazy noise things. Can be super frustrating, but I find it really rewarding.

[behndy]

YOU HAD ZERO INFLUENCE ON ME GRABBING A SYNCHRY. REALLY. NONE. NONE AT ALL.

...... the Expander is out of my HP range though. as baller as it looks.

moof. freaking HOLIDAYS. have the PanHam in my cart, ret to go, forgot it was Labor Day, so a bunch of deposits clear at like 3 or 4 this morning to cover it instead of the am that just passed.

like. i want it ordered NOW. and on it's way TODAY. pffffffffffft have to wait a whole EXTRA 24 HOURS WHAT IS THIS BULLLLLLLLSHIIIIIIIT.

[mr. sound boy king]

I have been fucking with this little rack which functions more-or-less as a BENJOLIN. The Fancy Rung Divisions is the heart of the BENJOLIN and the rest of the modules are just subbed in for the BENJOLIN's osc / mixer / filter / etc. It is fun and rules hard.






Additionally, I have Elektron Analog Four Mark One incoming to complement the modular drum rack I posted a page or so ago. I am going to clock the modular with it and use it to create melodic contents, I hope, which will be more robust than what I was getting with Arpitecht + Piston Honda Mark Two. The thing won't arrive until Friday (woe) so everything remains quite theoretical at the moment!

[behndy]

sexy RUNGLE times!

murrrrrr i'm confused. i always thought when using VCAs for audio one wanted a linear VCA? but reading a bunch of articles and posts.... it depends on what kind of envelope one uses? exponential envelope into linear VCA, linear envelope into exponential VCA for the most Natural To Human Ears sounding response?

tl;dr - thinking about grabbing a Doepfer exponential quad VCA, she's good for audio?

[yeatsvisitslincoln]

Intellijel quad vca! Can change the response from Lin to exp so you never have to worry!

[greyscales]

Do your envelopes have adjustable curves? If not, then I think linear/exponential VCAs matter more. I would prefer having my envelopes be adjustable to play with different slopes on attack and decay.
But yes, general rule of thumb seems to be exponential is better for audio, linear is better for CV. Might as well get one with adjustable curves though (like Intellijel Quad VCA or Mutable Veils).



I have been going ham with purchasing over the last week and had a Three Sisters, PNW, and Steppy 1u show up today. Haven't touched the Steppy yet because I don't want to disassemble my 7u. But Three Sisters and PNW are great so far. Haven't touched the manuals but still getting some fun sounds!
Should have my second batch of goodies showing up next week and I am voraciously searching for a Squid Salmple on the used market.

[Dark Barn]

I prefer linear VCAs from a conceptual viewpoint, although the proof is of course in the pudding, linear VCAs jive more with my thinking. A good VCA should just do what you tell it to do, if you want exponential behavior send it exponential CV. In non-modular contexts it might not matter as much but with modular you can send CV any-which-where, you want to be able to shape that CV without passing it through a VCA first, right? I’m not using CV for just audio or just modulation I’m using it wherever I god damn please! I want to be able to shape that modulation as much as possible at the source without using a VCA to achieve desired behavior.

[behndy]

hurm. well, i was looking at the Quad Exp VCA because i have a Nonlinear Circuits Statues and Delay No More coming in. meant the Tangle Quartet i'm using would be 2 hp too large, the Doepfer Quad is 6 hp, covers that.

i love the 2hp VCAs, which are linear, but FURK. those things are so deep. the row i want them in, they only fit about 35% of the spots. buuuuuut looking at the Doepfer, it's pretty fucking deep too.

going to try to finagle the 2hps back in. gives me an extra 2 VCAs too, which helps with the stereo/multiple outs on the Chainsaw and Chord v2.

thanks for all the helpful knowledge loots!

also, Chainsaw is bosssssssssss.

[Dark Barn]

After I posted I thought of the use case where I might prefer an expo VCA; if I want to use the same CV source as linear in one place and as exponential in another. In this case the cheapest way to get there is probably a linear CV source multed to an expo VCA. Now I want to buy an exponential VCA...

[mr. sound boy king]

The Elektron Analog Four Mark One arrived at my house yesterday. I had two hours to play with it. During that time, I made it trigger my Akemie's Taiko and pitch my Akemie's Taiko. Neat but who cares. I made it the master clock over the Trigger Riot. I enslaved the Trigger Riot! That's much more interesting.

If you activate all CV steps on the A4 it acts like a regular people clock. But deactivating some steps sends a wonky clock to the Trigger Riot resulting in something much better than 1990s illbient music. Cool idea!

The synth sounds sound OK so far. I understand subtractive synthesis pretty well so shouldn't have trouble dialing in some dope noises with a little practice. That is my story of mating an A4 and modular synth. More to come probably.

[behndy]

nice!

yeah, i do something similar with the Metron. send a gate channel as clock to either Voltage Blocks or FLXS or Riot, have some patterns using 1/4 notes for normal operation, some patterns with super wangled patterns (woot ratchets for clocks). it's a nice changeup for feel.

also, as much as i love the Metron, i don't need 2. going to be listing the silver one (and a buttloads of other stuff when i get time to sort Not Used Enough Loot) if anyone is looking for one.